Muguruza charges past Alexandrova in Wimbledon opener

LONDON, Great Britain – 2015 finalist Garbiñe Muguruza booked her spot into the second round of Wimbledon after a solid performance against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Alexandrova, ranked No.75 and playing in just her second time at Wimbledon and her second match against a Top 20 player, didn’t have the answers to everything Muguruza threw at her, falling 6-2, 6-4.

“Well, it didn't look that easy from inside, honestly,” Muguruza admitted in her post-match press conference. “But I'm happy. I was just nervous to play first round. You never know how it's going to go.

“[I’m] pretty happy with my performance. Didn't play my best tennis. But I wasn't thinking that today I was going to play either. But happy these tough matches. I'm handling well.”

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Muguruza had a new face in her box after Spanish legend Conchita Martinez took over coaching duties in Sam Sumyk’s absence, but the No.14 seed took the court with the same game plan.

“It's not that different because I work with [Conchita] during the Fed Cup weeks, and also before in Barcelona she was helping me as well few days here and there,” Muguruza explained.

“It's actually, you know, relaxed and funny because we get along very well. She knows how to play here. So I love [working with her].”

Muguruza kept Alexandrova under pressure with her high-intensity pace and power, and enjoyed plenty of free points as Alexandrova misfired time and time again. Muguruza broke twice and shook off three break-back chances to ease through the opening set.

"It didn't look that easy from inside, honestly, but I'm happy. I was just nervous to play first round. You never know how it's going to go."

Garbiñe Muguruza

But in the second things got a bit more complicated as Alexandrova cleaned up the errors from her all-or-nothing game and opened the set with her first break to the Muguruza serve. The Spaniard got it right back in the next game, and the pair stayed on serve during the rest of the tightly drawn set.

It was finally Muguruza who broke through, earning the decisive break to love in the final game to close out the match after just 62 minutes.

She’ll take on Yanina Wickmayer in the next round after the Belgian defeated Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.